


Ice Castle's Madonna

by theseventhmarch



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Gen, sports related injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 22:46:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9849878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theseventhmarch/pseuds/theseventhmarch
Summary: Why was Yuuko there, married with three kids, if she was the Madonna of Ice Castle?A possible explanation of Yuuko's past, embedded in the reunion between Yuuko and Yuuri in Episode One.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Catch the real-life references! But DISCLAIMER these references have no relevance to real-life persons.
> 
> Unbeta'd, so I'd appreciate it a lot if you catch any mistakes and tell me.

Yuuko looked at her childhood friend Yuuri. She had not seen him in person in five years. The last time she saw him was when they sent him off at the airport, when Yuuri left for the US to study and to train under a new coach.

Those five years had been so long. Even though Yuuko tried to stay in contact with Yuuri by calling him, the different paths their lives took eventually made that difficult. The first few months they talked at least once a week, mostly about Yuuri’s training and Yuuko’s family. But by the end of the first year, their phone calls dwindled down to almost nothing, and Yuuko was lucky to even have an email from Yuuri.

Of course, it was not only due to Yuuri’s busy schedule of studies and training. Yuuko was busy managing both Ice Castle and the triplets; one would have thought that the triplets would become easier to handle once they got older and could do more things by themselves, but they only caused more trouble the older they became.

Yuuko had wanted to leave Yuuri alone after re-opening the rink for Yuuri, but Yuuri asked her to stay. “I have something to show you,” he mumbled mysteriously. So Yuuko stayed, curious, and waited until Yuuri was ready to show her whatever it was.

She subtly examined Yuuri while he changed into his skating boots. Yuuri seemed even more subdued than his usual quiet self. Of course, Yuuko heard about what happened at the Grand Prix Final from the Japanese news and Vicchan’s death from Yuuri’s mother. But it had been five years since Yuuko last  _ saw _ Yuuri up close and Yuuri was acting like a stranger. Yuuko would always wish the best for her friend, but his demeanour was making her slightly anxious and Yuuko herself wasn’t sure why. Did more bad things happen between Sochi and his return to Hasetsu? Did his graduation not go well?

 

When Yuuko first spoke to Yuuri, it was at Ice Castle right before her skating lessons with Yamada-sensei. As she was stepping onto the ice with her newly bought boots, ready to make her way towards the coach, she noticed a little boy with red-rimmed eyes hanging around the exit of the rink. She had seen him around before, and noticed him because he seemed to be one of the youngest but most capable figure skaters taking classes from Yamada-sensei. Right then, it seemed that this boy was reluctant to exit the rink after his lessons. Yuuko skated over to him.

“Hi! I’m Ito Yuuko! Are you okay there?”

The boy seemed startled at Yuuko’s appearance. Yuuko crouched down a bit so that she was speaking to the boy at the same level.

“I-I am alright!” the boy stuttered.

Yuuko continued smiling at the boy. Why were his eyes red and his face gloomy? Was there anything Yuuko could do? “What is your name?” asked Yuuko.

“My name is Katsuki Yuuri,” the boy replied. Yuuri kept his head down and it was quite hard for Yuuko to look at Yuuri’s face.

"Yuuri-kun, did something happen just now?" Yuuko asked, still quite concerned. "Did you fall down? Or did someone bully you?"

Yuuri’s head snapped up. “No, no, no one bullied me! I wanted to do the single Salchow well but I kept falling down.” He frowned sadly.

Some of the boys at Yuuri’s age were still struggling to get decent half jumps, but of course Yuuri would expect so highly of himself. Yuuko tried to console Yuuri. “It is okay, Yuuri-kun. There is always the next lesson for you to get it right.”

Yuuri did not seem consoled. Yuuko tried again.

“Well, if you are free, you can always come over to Ice Castle to practice during your free time!” Yuuko said in a cheerful voice. “I come here very often to practice outside of lessons too! We can skate together if you want! I am trying to get a Salchow down too!”

Yuuri seemed to be cheered up a little. “Really?” he asked in a shy, tiny voice, “My parents are usually not free to take me here often, but I will try to come if I can!”

After that initial encounter, they often met up together at the rink to skate. Most of the times, Yuuri came to the rink accompanied by his sister Mari-neechan. Sometimes, they would practice their technical elements together, while other times they would fool around a bit and try to mimic the routines skated by their favourite figure skater Victor Nikiforov. Whenever possible, Yuuko would protect Yuuri from the bullies, like Nishigori Takeshi, the son of one of the Ice Castle staff. Oh, how time flew.

 

Yuuko wanted to initiate a conversation with Yuuri, to ask how he had been, but the subdued atmosphere kept her quiet. Thankfully, Yuuri finally spoke after stepping onto the ice and passing his skate guards and glasses to Yuuko.

“Um, I wanted Yuu-chan to see this,” Yuuri said, “so I’ve been practicing it since the competitions ended.”

“Please watch,” requested Yuuri, before skating to the centre of the rink. He adopted a position that seemed familiar. Could it be…?

 

As the both of them grew older, they started to take their skating even more seriously. Both Yuuri and Yuuko went to the regionals and nationals and medalled in the Novice and Junior categories. Yuuri sometimes got gold, whenever his nerves did not get the better of him, while Yuuko usually got gold. Both of them even represented Japan in international Junior competitions. Yuuko won the gold in Junior Grand Prix Final when she was fifteen, while Yuuri got a silver in the same competition a few years later.

Yuuko enjoyed going to competitions very much. She got to make a lot of friends and saw a lot of places outside Hasetsu, and even outside of Japan. However, just as her coach was asking her to consider converting to Senior level after winning JGPF, her knees started hurting really badly. The sports medicine doctor diagnosed it as Osgood-Schlatter disease. It was a name that she hated to think about or to pronounce. Despite surgery and rehabilitation, the symptoms never really got better and Yuuko gave up competitive figure skating as a lost cause, much to her dismay.

She would probably still regret not being able to continue skating for many more years to come, even though it had been about a decade since then. So Yuuko watched from Japan as Yuuri travelled to other competitions in Japan and outside Japan. Yuuri probably felt really bad for her, but Yuuko did not want him to feel bad for her at all. At first, Yuuko tried her best to keep smiling in school and especially around Yuuri. Yuuri’s eyes seemed full of sadness and regret for her whenever they talked to each other in school. However, as time passed, Yuuri eventually became comfortable to talk to her without seeming sad about it.

 

Yuuko was entirely absorbed in the movements that Yuuri almost perfectly replicated on the ice, except some of Victor’s quads which he either tripled the jump or used a quad toe instead. The only sounds that could be heard were those of Yuuri’s blades stroking or landing on the ice. Even without the music, Yuuko knew this routine perfectly well. It was the end of the season and Victor had already performed it so many times - thrice in the Grand Prix series, once in Nationals and another at the European Championships. Yuuko constantly rewatched Victor’s routines on her laptop, sometimes doing so together with her triplets.

Yuuri approaching her and extending his arms toward her startled her a bit before she remembered this would have been Victor facing and appealing to the judges.

It was a bit overwhelming to think that the very first thing that Yuuri did after seeing Yuuko for the first time in so many years would be replicating Victor’s program. It felt like a missing hole in her heart had finally been filled, being with Yuuri and doing what they loved doing before her diagnosis. The heaviness of the atmosphere from earlier was suddenly lifted from her heart.

As Yuuri struck the final pose after his spin, Yuuko could not hold back her enthusiasm.

“That was super cool!!!” Yuuko squealed, pounding her hands on the boards. “A perfect copy of Victor! Awesome!!!”

“I thought you’d be depressed or something!” Yuuko added, thinking of Yuuri’s last place finish at the Grand Prix Final in December.

Yuuri nodded. “I was.” Yuuko quietened down.

Yuuri continued. “But I got bored of feeling depressed, so I got to thinking… I wanted to get my love for skating back. I thought I could remember how it was when I copied Victor with you.”

Yuuko’s heart felt warmer hearing about Yuuri not getting discouraged. Yuuko wanted Yuuri to excel in figure skating so much, since she was not able to do it herself.

Then Yuuri paused, took a deep breath, and said in a smaller voice, “Yuu-chan, I have always…”

Yuuri did not get to finish whatever he wanted to say. Just then, her triplets came out of nowhere (really, why were they even here when they should be back home) and starting asking Yuuri all sorts of questions.

 

Later on, as they exited Ice Castle together with Takeshi and the triplets trailing behind, Yuuko asked Yuuri about it.

“Yuuri-kun, didn’t you have something to say just now? Before Axel, Lutz and Loop interrupted?”

Yuuri startled a bit and paused momentarily in his walking, before continuing. He replied, “Oh it is nothing much really. I have always appreciated the help and support you have given me when we were younger. I just wanted to say that.”

Even though that was what Yuuri said, Yuuko sensed that there was still something else he was not saying. Yuuko knew not to push Yuuri; he would say whatever it was when he was ready.

“Don’t mention it! It is great seeing my friend accomplish so many things in my stead!” Yuuko replied cheerfully.

“Oh, have you talked to Yamada-sensei since you’ve been back?” Yuuko asked, redirecting the conversation. “The last I heard, she just had another grandchild!”

Yuuko was just happy that Yuuri was here.

**Author's Note:**

> Hasetsu might seem like a dead place, but we are talking about Japan that loves figure skating. I would love an AU fic where Yuuko does competitive skating along with Yuuri. (Well, I am too lazy to do this, sorry. If anyone knows of one, please let me know!)
> 
> I am too lazy to jot down my headcanons (which are probably not obvious in-text) regarding Yuuko's thoughts and motivations, haha. To be honest, my very first thought when trying to explain the discordance between Yuuri's Madonna comment and Yuuko's current situation was sexism. But that was too depressing for me to write, so here we are.
> 
> Midori Ito is the first female skater to land a triple Axel in competition. Her coach was Machiko Yamada (at least according to Wikipedia), who is also a current coach of Shoma Uno (but not the one we see at Kiss and Cry) and former coach of Mao Asada.
> 
> Find me on [tumblr](http://theseventhmarch.tumblr.com), especially if you are a newbie in the FS fandom!


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